


Mostly Vodka

by 4horsesatetheworld



Category: Haven (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Telepathy, honestly i say past duke/audrey but idk where this is going so we'll see, what if jennifer wasn't connected to the barn?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-16
Updated: 2017-05-15
Packaged: 2018-11-01 07:59:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10917648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/4horsesatetheworld/pseuds/4horsesatetheworld
Summary: Lexie walks out of the Barn, and Jennifer gets her Audrey's clothes. And a bunch of other coincidences. Season 4 Canon Divergence AU.





	Mostly Vodka

Jennifer brings Lexie some of Audrey’s clothes. It seems like she might be more comfortable in pants, if they're going to be running around fixing a Trouble all day. Lexie thanks her and that is that. 

…

Audrey likes Jennifer. She's cute and easy to get along with. There's no baggage between them.   
It helps that they seem to have similar tastes. During one of her forced dates with Nathan, Jennifer comes bustling into the restaurant and stops by, mentions how much she was craving good chowder. Exactly what Audrey ordered. While Audrey doesn't remember liking trail mix, Jennifer's special mix is somehow perfect. They both end up grabbing for the last Lucky Charms at the store. It's easy to laugh with Jennifer over their shared food loves. 

…

Jennifer doesn't normally dream. She always thought it was some equilibrium thing where she heard voices during the day and had no dreams at night. 

It's her tenth night in Haven and Audrey's third day being back when she has a nightmare. She's running through a dark wood. Someone chases her. She can see vaguely someone running to her left. She trips as a root comes out from nowhere. As she falls, she lands on a rock. She becomes woozy and when someone picks her up. It gets worse. Then, she's in a room tied to a pole. Harsh lights shine directly into her eyes. She swivels her head to see Lexie next to her. She's similarly tied up, but she's also attached to electrodes. 

"What is your name?" A gravelly voice asks from the darkness.

“Go fuck yourself,” Lexie responds. Lexie seizes as a shock runs through her. 

“What is your name?” The voice asks again. 

“Lexie Dewitt” Another shock. 

“What is your name?” 

“Fuckers, I told you. Lexie-” She cuts herself off with a scream as she is shocked again. Jennifer struggles against her bonds. 

“What is your name?” 

“Lex-” Another shock. Lexie smiles through bloody teeth. She must have bitten her tongue.   
Jennifer screams, “Her name is Lexie Dewitt, you assholes! Stop torturing her!”

“Jennifer?” Lexie slurs, the shocks messing with her ability to talk. 

"Did I say you could speak?” The voice yells. Jennifer feels a crushing weight on her windpipe. She can't speak, can't breathe. She chokes. 

“Stop it! Stop it!” Lexie screams beside her. 

“What is your name?” 

“Audrey Parker. I'm Audrey Parker.” 

The pressure is immediately removed from her throat, and Jennifer gasps, trying to draw as much air into her lungs as possible. 

“Jennifer! Jennifer!” Duke is shaking her awake. He looks so concerned. Jennifer keeps gasping, the memory still in her head.   
“Hey, it's alright. I got you. Nothing's going to hurt you here,” Duke whispers, stroking her hair, “You're alright.” 

I don’t think Audrey is though.

At the station the next morning, Lexie looks terrible. 

“You alright Lexie?” Jennifer asks. Lexie looks at her, puzzled. 

“Yeah,” she replies, “Bad dreams.” 

"Here then,” Jennifer handed Lexie the extra cup she got at Rosemary’s. “It's chamomile honey. Always makes me feel better after a bad dream.” 

“Thanks,” Lexie looks sad for a moment before smiling. “If this fails, maybe I'll try drinking something a little stronger to forget.” 

“Let me know if you do. I'd love to see you in action, Bartender.” 

“Sure thing, Journalist. I'll text you.” 

…

Audrey ends up texting Jennifer that night. She responds with a thumbs up and a :). 

For whatever reason, she's actually nervous about having Jennifer over. Beyond her fear of being found out, she wants to impress Jennifer, make it seem like she's got it together. She raided the Gull (with Duke’s permission) to assemble a bunch of different options should Jennifer want something complicated. Audrey hopes Jennifer wants an appletini. Audrey wants one, but Lexie prefers bourbon on the rocks. 

There's a soft knock on the door. Audrey slips into being Lexie and pulls it open. Jennifer wears blue jeans, a patterned tank, and what looks like one of Duke’s over large cardigans. 

“Welcome to my humble abode, mademoiselle. Please come in.” She waves Jennifer in. “Me casa es su casa and whatever.” 

Jennifer flops on the couch face first. Audrey snorts. It's a carefree action so unusual in Haven. 

“Need a drink?” she asks. 

“Ugggnhhhh,” Jennifer groans into a pillow. 

“What?” 

“Yes please. Tequila if you've got it.” Jennifer sits up, kicking her shoes off and curls her feet up under her. 

"Is this a shot or a sip sorta tequila? Cause I got good stuff and normal stuff.” 

“Let's do shots. It's been so long since I've got drunk. Meds, ya know.” 

Audrey gave her a sympathetic smile. She hasn't been drunk since Colorado. 

“So what drives you into the loving arms of José, Jennifer?” Audrey asks as she sets down the shots. 

“Duke.” 

“Tall, dark, and handsome? What's he done?” 

“He treats me like I'm breakable. Which I mean I am. I'm new to Haven. I don't know all the weird stuff that seems to happen everyday, but I'm trying. And I’ve survived life up until now, that counts for something. ”

“Cheers to that.” Audrey lefts up a shot and they clink glasses before they down it. Jennifer makes a face. 

“I know it may not seem like it, but I can actually take care of myself.” 

“Damn straight. Nathan seems caught between allowing me to fend for myself and trying to protect me all the time.

 

“He can't decide if I'm, ya know, me or this Audrey chick.” 

“Have you decided whether you're you or Audrey?” 

“What?” 

“You had a dream last night, didn't you? You were tied up to a pole, and someone was asking you what your name was. Shocked you every time you said it was Lexie. When they started choking me, you begged them to stop. And you said your name was Audrey Parker.” 

“Shit.” Audrey sighed, “Fuck, I thought it was weird that it was you and not Nathan or Duke. Are you going to tell anyone?” 

"Thought about telling Duke. But, I wouldn't know who else to tell.” 

“Oh Duke knows. Figured it out the day I got back.” 

“Of course he did. I never asked him, but you guys, you've got history, don't you? You and him, were you and him ever…”

“No. I mean, I wanted to be. He wanted to be. But, it was never right.” 

“Do you still … ya know.. love him?” 

“Do you?” Jennifer blushes, and Audrey laughs. Audrey continues, “Yeah. I mean, probably always have since I came to Haven, probably always will. He’s just like that. But, you have nothing to worry about. Duke and I are in the past. We died with Audrey Parker.”

“But Audrey lives. You're alive.”

“Eh, no, Audrey Parker, the Audrey Parker I used to be is dead. She stepped into a magic barn and was erased.” 

“But aren't you? I mean in the dream you said, you are Audrey Parker.” 

“I'm not the Audrey Parker who went into the barn. See, I've got Audrey's memories but I've also got Lexie's, and they slide and slip. I'm not one or the other but some mix of both. I am mostly Audrey, but I'm not quite the same as I was. I’m not really sure who I am. I’m sure I ever was sure.” 

“Hey, look at it like this. You are a vodka cranberry. Audrey was vodka and Lexie is cranberry, and while the taste has changed slightly, you're still mostly vodka with cranberry. Still a delicious cocktail.” 

Audrey laughs at the metaphor, bright and ringing in way that is too rarely heard in Haven these days, but nods. “Yeah, pretty much.” 

“Well then, Lexie Parker, or Audrey Dewitt, I think we deserve vodka cranberries.” 

“Well then, Jennifer Mason, I will get right on that.” 

…

“Ugggggggh,” Jennifer grumbles as she wakes, head pounding. Freaking hangovers. 

“Good morning, sweet cheeks,” Audrey says brightly.

“Frick you Lexdrey,” which only makes Audrey laugh, increasing the pain in Jennifer's head. She groans again. 

“Here, drink this. It tastes like sweaty tits feel, but it'll make you feel better.” Audrey sets a glass on the bedside table by Jennifer's head. Jennifer sways when she sits up, but manages to grab the glass and down it in one fell swoop. It tastes like an octopus had sex with a grapefruit and had an egg that was covered in fur. Jennifer also downs the two ibuprofen Audrey hands her. Audrey returns to puttering around her kitchen as Jennifer leans back against the headboard, closing her eyes. With each breath, Jennifer can feel the pressure on her brain fading. 

“What was in that?” 

“An ancient anti-hangover spell handed down from bartender to bartender over the centuries. Come you'll feel better with some food in ya.”

“How are you Miss Perky this morning?” 

“Got that bartender liver and three cups of coffee.” 

Jennifer drags herself over to Audrey's table. Plopping in a chair, Jennifer drinks the cup of water put in front of her. It's then replaced with a large breakfast burrito. 

“Protein and fat. Should help. It's my hangover food.” 

They eat in relative silence. When Jennifer finishes eating, she sees Audrey staring at her. 

“Do I have something on my face?” 

“No, no just thinking. So your ability to hear in the barn started six months ago? When I first went into the barn. What was it like?” 

“I heard Duke screaming for you. And I would get these periods where there was just intense buzzing all the time. Almost like static from a tv, but really loud. Then I was on my meds, and then I met Duke.” 

“Can you hear anything now? Besides the normal noises.” 

“No, but I really had to be unfocused but focused to really hear you before.” 

“How so?” 

“I couldn't be forcing it, but more of it just came to me. Like I was so focused on something else, that I didn't focus on opening to it and it opened.” 

Audrey sits in silence; if Jennifer knew her better, she would say that Audrey had on her thinking face, eyes unfocused and biting the inside of her cheek. Jennifer takes one of Audrey’s hands forcing her to look up. 

“Audrey, listen. We won't figure this out in a morning, especially when we're both hungover. Why don't we table it for later? You can have a day to think about it. And I have a feeling Nathan will be coming to grab you soon for a case so…” 

“But, what if we don't have time? We need-” Audrey was cut off by a knock at the door.

“Lexie, it's Nathan. We have a case. I've brought you coffee.” 

“One second!” Audrey yells back. She sighs, and releases Jennifer’s hand. “We will have more of this conversation later. You aren't going to tell anyone right?” 

“Of course not, I mean, Audrey died when you walked into the barn, right?” 

Audrey grins, and goes to open the door. 

…

Lexie is having a shitty day. Headaches all morning and a faint buzzing at the station makes it hard for her to think, much less eat, drink, or focus on being Lexie. Nathan keeps giving her worried looks and she pretends not to notice when he steps outside to call Duke, presumably. She stretches out on their office couch. Being horizontal vastly decreases how her head pounds. She drifts. 

There are large hands touching her face, soothingly stroking her cheekbones. Lips press into hers. It's nice. It's a kind of kiss Lexie hasn't had in a long time. 

It's Duke. Kissing her. They are kissing and Audrey isn't at the station anymore she's on the Rouge and she is kissing Duke. Duke pulls back and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. She smiles. 

“I know that adjusting to Haven can be real hard, but I'm really proud of you, Jennifer. You've been rolling with the punches, better than I think anyone besides Audrey has in a long time,” he says to her.

Shit. Shit. Big balls of crap. I'm in Jennifer's head. This must be our connection. Shit. How do I sever it? 

Duke continues to look at Jennifer lovingly, and Jennifer is saying some sweet back. 

Jennifer. Jennifer! JENNIFER! Audrey thinks with as much force as she can. The last one seems to work; Audrey finds herself back on the couch. Whipping out her phone, she shoots off a quick text before Nathan comes back with new information about their case. 

The feeling of soft touches makes her skin itch all day.   
…

“Alright, keep your fists up. Always be ready to block. Cheesy as it is, best offense is defense if you're short and female.” Duke hears Audrey telling someone in her apartment. There's a grunt of affirmation and the sound of gloves hitting gloves. He knocks once, but the door swings open to reveal Jennifer with wrists and knuckles taped facing off against Audrey who's holding two oven mitts with pillow attached. Jennifer seems to be getting better. There's a jab, a fient, a quick 1-4, and an uppercut that seems to take Audrey by surprise. She laughs, and Jennifer blushes though it hard to tell with her face already flushed. 

“Any chance you brawlers would be interested in some lunch?” Duke asks, revealing the sandwiches he brought up from the Gull. Audrey sends a look at Jennifer, causing them both to descend into laughter. Duke takes that as a yes, and enters Audrey's apartment. He places the sandwiches down and gets ice and frozen peas out of Audrey's freezer, as Audrey unwinds the tape from Jennifer's hands. Duke also gets three cans of cold Cokes. 

“Thank you, Du-uke,” Audrey says in the sing-song way of Lexie, “What a nice young man, bringing up lunch for his girl.” 

Jennifer laughs at Audrey's impression of a grandma, and Duke chuckles. The women make quick work of the sandwiches and sodas. 

“Jennifer, marry this man. These may be the best sandwiches I've ever had.” 

“Thank you, Lexie. I live to please,” Duke replied, “Though I have to ask, what's with fight school?” 

“Haven is a dangerous place. People should know how to fight for themselves, especially when they run with such dangerous company.

“I mean, have you seen Jennifer? The woman is clearly Category 5 dangerous.”

…

Jennifer hangs out with Audrey a lot, Duke realizes after seeing them sparing. Now that he's noticed, he can't not see. Jennifer goes to Rosemary’s in the morning at the same time as Audrey, they'll go grocery shopping, and Jennifer begins to cancel plans with him because she's made plans with Audrey. Duke isn't jealous, or anything dumb like that. Audrey and Jennifer both deserve to have friends and be friends, but Duke wouldn't mind actually getting to date his girlfriend. So when Jennifer reschedules for the third time in a week, Duke decides to talk to Audrey. 

“Hey Lexie, I gotta--” Duke says, entering Audrey's office, cutting himself off when he sees her and Jennifer in an intense staring contest, “Hello Jennifer.” 

“Hey, babe. Wanna get lunch?” Jennifer smiles brightly, not breaking eye contact. 

“Uh, sure. Are you two infected by some weird stare based Trouble or is this just for fun?” 

Turning to look at him in unison, Audrey and Jennifer reply, “Yes.” 

“Alright then. Lunch?” Duke looks at Jennifer. She gets up and puts her arm in his. 

“Lexie, I do need to talk to you later,” he adds. Audrey smiles up at him, and replies, “Yes, we do. Why don't you and Jennifer swing by and I'll cook dinner tonight?” 

“We'd love to. Thank you for the invite.” Jennifer grabs Duke by the arm and pulls him away. Duke catches Nathan’s brief confused look as he passes Duke on their way out. 

…

Are you sure we should tell him?

There is no one I trust more with my secrets than Duke

…

“So, Duke, huh?” 

“Uh, Jennifer actually,” Lexie replies, “I'm trying to get settled in; it's nice having someone not expect me to be your Audrey chick.” 

She fixes him with a pointed stare. The look is so Audrey that Nathan looks away. Lexie continues, “Duke is just an added perk.” 

Nathan rubs his face. He remembers Duke and Audrey's closeness before she left. Desperate for a change in the topic, he asks, “Any insights on the suicides?” 

“Maybe they just got tired of living in this town, surrounded by ghosts.” 

…

Duke gets tied up in another argument with Wade when they get to the Gull for dinner. Jennifer leaves the brothers to it and goes to talk to Audrey. Centering her breathing to the waves as the splash against the dock, Jennifer opens herself to the connection she has with Audrey. 

We're here. Duke is arguing with Wade again. 

Ugh, don't tell Duke I think this, but Wade is a major dick. Gives me the creeps whenever I'm in a room with him. I miss Duke running the Gull. 

You miss the free drinks. Audrey's warm chuckle flows through the connection. However, it's quickly replaced by a hard uncertainty. 

Are you sure you want to tell Duke about this? Audrey asks. Jennifer feels Audrey's yearning to be without secrets like it's her own. Jennifer became a reporter because she believes in the power of the truth. It would be hypocritical of her to not be truthful in her own life. She sends her feelings to Audrey and is answered with the soft silk of relief. She reaches Audrey's door and she's her smile matched on Audrey's face. 

Let's do this. 

… 

Duke enters Audrey's apartment to see a startlingly similar scene. Audrey and Jennifer staring into each other’s eyes as Audrey pours them both glasses of wine. Without breaking eye contact, they clink glasses and down the scarlet liquid. 

“He's staring at us you know?” Jennifer whispers conspiratorly. 

“Let him stare, for we are beautiful maidens, but let him be careful lest we turn to goddess who's true form would turn even the best man to stone,” Lexie recites, like a Shakespearen actor to a loving crowd. Duke is getting better at seeing the differences between true Lexie and Audrey pretending-to-be Lexie. 

“There’s no such thing as the best man. He is the best because he does not exist to bother us,” Jennifer replies. 

“Then, as a somewhat good man, let me offer my sacrifice of a good wine, and ask to be turned to marble. I've always thought I'd make a beautiful statue.” 

Audrey laughs, big and boisterous and so very Lexie. She smiles, and Jennifer smiles with her. Jennifer indicates for him to sit. 

“Duke, we have something to talk to you about.” 

“You're breaking up with me to get with Lexie?”

“No. No! It's not that,” Jennifer replies, looking at Lexie for reassurance.

“She knows that I'm still kinda Audrey,” Audrey forges ahead, “And she knows because her connection wasn't with the Barn. It was with me.”


End file.
